Were you ever watching TV or scrolling through social media and an advertisement for some yummy looking fast food pops up out of nowhere? Suddenly, you’re craving a bite of that delightfully greasy slice of pizza, digging into a KFC box or taking a big sip of that Starbucks Frappuccino.
However, if you see a KFC commercial, you may not necessarily immediately head to the drive through to satisfy your craving. Fast food marketing seeps into your brain in a way you may not realize. According to Ashley Gearhardt, director of the Food and Addiction Science and Treatment lab at the University of Michigan, fast food ads prime you to be motivated to seek out extremely processed foods. In her words:
“It’s not actually about needing calories; it’s about desiring the reward of the food.”
Our taste buds have been genetically engineered to crave high-calorie, high-fat foods (that we used to need for energy-hunting, gathering, exploring etc), and now we have created food that tastes even better than nature's, which makes lettuce a hard sell when compared to a Big Mac.
Consuming junk food is a global norm and of course, our Caribbean islands are not exempted.
Ultra-processed food, sugary beverages and fast food with poor nutritional quality are prevalent in the Caribbean, according to a recent report published by the Pan American Health Organization.
“We are observing the beginnings of an epidemic of ultra-processed food consumption,” said Fabio da Silva Gomes, regional advisor in nutrition at PAHO. “Its sales are growing disproportionately in comparison with those of other foods, filling families’ tables with products that do not contribute to good health,” he added.
This is obviously a huge problem. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), fast foods are rich in saturated and trans-fats, simple carbohydrates and sodium which are associated with hypertension, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. We are all well aware that junk food causes noncommunicable diseases.
According to Razzaghi et al. (2019), between 2006 and 2016, 70% of all deaths worldwide were due to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). NCDs kill nearly 40 million people a year globally, with almost three-quarters of NCD deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
Their study revealed that cancer, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes accounted for 39% to 67% of all deaths in 20 Caribbean countries and territories, and more than half of the deaths in 17 of them. Heart disease accounted for higher percentages of deaths in most of the Caribbean countries and territories (13%-25%), followed by cancer (8%-25%), diabetes (4%-21%), and cerebrovascular disease (1%-13%).
Why, then, do people knowing consume fast foods even though they are aware of the consequences?
There are a lot of reasons, but I’ll discuss the main three.
1. Globalization
In Jamaica, quick service restaurants are the fastest growing segment of the restaurant sub-sector, with 50% of the market comprised of U.S. fast-food franchises (FAO, 2016). This trend is no doubt a direct response to increasing incomes, urbanization, market deregulation and foreign direct investment— according to the World Investment Report, Jamaica is the leading recipient of foreign direct investment inflows in the English-speaking Caribbean.
As of 2019, there were 19 Burger Kings, 16 Dominos, 11 Pizza Huts, 7 Little Caesars, 36 KFCs, 9 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchens, 4 Subways, 9 Wendy’s and 2 TGI Fridays facing direct competition from local outlets such as 18 Island Grills, 61 Juici Patties and 32 Tastees, among others (Ewing-Chow, 2019). This is a great deal of fast food competition for a 4,213 square mile island.
This example provides support for the notion that globalization has negatively impacted the agri-food systems, thereby altering the quantity, type, cost and desirability of foods available for consumption.
2. It’s cheap.
People on low incomes are more likely to buy calorie-dense foods instead of fruit or vegetables because they are more filling.
Additionally, you can go to most fast food restaurants and buy a full meal for $50 or less. It's no different at the grocery store. Inexpensive snacks and high-sodium, high-fat meals populate the shelves. Interestingly, healthier foods like fresh fruits and vegetables have a reputation to be pricier, but this is not always the case.
Instant ramen noodles may cost less than $5 each, but fresh conventional and even organic produce is starting to become more affordable, especially if you get them at the farmers’ markets.
Studies comparing the price per unit weight of food from the same food group suggest healthy options are often cheaper – for example, 200g of chickpeas versus 200g of bacon. The latter is a more meaningful measure because most people buying food think about the quantity they are buying rather than how many calories they are getting for their money.
Although a lot of junk food may seem cheap to buy upfront, the argument can also be made that junk foods end up being more expensive in the long run due to their negative impact on health.
3. Readily available
Because mass-produced food has become more convenient than cooking at home, and because many people work two or three jobs, those with the time to prepare food from scratch are essentially ‘wealthy’.
Junk food is lurking in vending machines and convenience stores. Even establishments that don't typically sell food items might have snacks and soft drinks near the cash register. And those instant meals previously mentioned? They're easy to prepare, and you can stockpile them in your kitchen cabinet for a long time.
Of course, fast foods live up to the name. You can order a fast-food meal and then eat it a minute or two later. Or you can order your meal from your car and can save time by eating while you drive away.
Source: https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2018/fast-food-daily-habit.html
In a world where food (especially the unhealthy and highly processed kind) is so readily available, it can be tough to change your unhealthy eating habits. But what really makes eating healthy SO hard? Why don't our bodies crave the stuff that's good for us?
A 2010 study published in Nature Neuroscience found that when rats were regularly fed fast food, their brain chemistry changed-and not for the better. The rats became obese and lost the ability to determine when they were hungry (they would eat fatty foods even when administered electric shocks).
They actually refused to eat when put on a healthy diet. There is additional existing research that shows that food can be just as addictive as drugs.
The good news: This "addiction" goes both ways, and you can slowly start to change your tastes and become "addicted" to healthier foods if you start eating them enough. That's what food psychologist Marcia Pelchat found when she gave test subjects a low-fat, vanilla-flavored drink (described as 'not very yummy') every day for two weeks.
After consuming it so often, most people started to crave the drink, despite its 'chalky' taste. The point: Even if vegetables taste terrible to you now, the more you eat them regularly, the more you'll start to enjoy them.
It's important to remember that creating new habits (both good and bad) takes time. It's safe to assume that you'll have a hard time sticking with your healthy diet if you go from regularly eating french fries to strictly salads in one day.
Gradual, small changes are what really work. Start with simple swaps like replacing your daily afternoon candy bar or dessert with healthier sweet snack. Then, move on to tackle another piece of your diet puzzle-like your soda habit.
By reframing an all-or-nothing approach in favor of small, realistic changes, you'll be more likely to break the binge-diet cycle for good. It's perfectly fine to enjoy a little pizza or chocolate now and then, but you may find that eating healthy most of the time is not only possible, it's enjoyable!
What we eat is central to our identities and strategies to address diet need to recognize this if they are to work.
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